Retro|Spective 127R: Street Fighter

[Neon Ignition]

Game 40 - Capcom Fighting Jam
Solving the branding costs of the vs games by just focusing on their own games should have made for an easy win but things didn't pan out for this entry. With 25 fighters from across several Capcom fighters and two boss fighters, but it had a lot of issues and animation cuts which leant it to carry a less than stellar reputation.







Was it your Jam?

[Neon Ignition]

Cannon Spike was always a fun oddity but it was very much exactly that. It takes no time at all to clock and has little reason to return to it.

Fighting Jam is bad... but I have to admit, there's something slightly fascinating about it. The core concept of a Capcom encompassing fighter I could be sold on easily, the execution though is something Capcom should have never signed off on

[Cassius_Smoke]

Like most 2d fighters I was drawn in my the graphics on this. It looked very pretty. But all I heard was bad things about it, so I never got it.

[endo]

I don't think it even looked that pretty, tbh. I'm not sure why they bothered with it. They cancelled Capcom Fighting All-Stars and presumably felt they couldn't go without a new fighter to fill the gap, so they cobbled this together and got it out quick. I'm well up for a Capcom fighter bringing together characters from all sorts of franchises, but this wasn't it. KoF it ain't.

I know Fighting All-Stars didn't test well, but it's a shame it got canned- it had Haggar in it! It'd be all kinds of rad if Haggar ends up being in SF6 further down the line.

[Asura]

For those who are unaware reading this, *Capcom Fighting All-Stars* was a cancelled Capcom 3D fighting game, which was, for all intents and purposes, meant to be their competitor to the series of King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. It was going to feature characters across a wide range of Capcom properties, and it was ****canned in a big cull that Capcom made of (IIRC) around 100 titles, each at various states of completion, most of which were, at the time, unannounced.

[fuse]

Xcellent or just made you Cross?

The pun did indeed make me cross. Game's a bit of a weird one, but I don't hate it. My biggest criticism being that the dial-a-combo thing made this whopping great big roster feel a bit homogenised to me - Tekken characters in particular losing a lot of their individuality in how combos work. In reality the tag mechanics never felt as important as they did in Marvel, gems didn't really mean much in the end either, and man, too many matches came down to turtling and holding out for a timer win.

An all-star hit?

Hands-up to this one - I've not played Cannon Spike. Bought it not that long ago though, and it's actually a Psikyo game, so I can imagine I'll find something in there to enjoy.

Was it your Jam?

I remember being utterly convinced that this one was gonna be great. I think someone here sold me a TGS promo DVD with footage that got me hyped in particular? Just imagine: SF2, Darkstalkers, Red Earth, and SF3 characters all in one! But yeah, it wasn't great, and I can't even put my finger on anything in particular. I do want to revisit it at some point though. I really don't like Ingrid though, and think she feels very out of place in pretty much everything she's appeared in.

[teddymeow]

Bad. Just bad. Textbook bad sequel, which was both entirely different to its forebear and worse in practically every way.

It was utter ****e and featured an absolutely game-breaking bug if memory serves?

[Dogg Thang]

I quite enjoyed Fighting Jam. Not saying it was a great game and, to be honest, I remember not actually playing it for all that long. But while I was playing it, I enjoyed it.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I don't think it even looked that pretty, tbh. I'm not sure why they bothered with it. They cancelled Capcom Fighting All-Stars and presumably felt they couldn't go without a new fighter to fill the gap, so they cobbled this together and got it out quick. I'm well up for a Capcom fighter bringing together characters from all sorts of franchises, but this wasn't it. KoF it ain't.

I know Fighting All-Stars didn't test well, but it's a shame it got canned- it had Haggar in it! It'd be all kinds of rad if Haggar ends up being in SF6 further down the line.

To be honest, my primitive ape brain sees 2d and flashing colours and goes 'Ug ug! Me like!'.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 41 - Rival Schools: United by Fate
A largely unintended inclusion, fears that the game would undersell meant that Sakura was added into the games roster and from there on Capcom linked this series into the Street Fighter canon across its media with a playable character from these games not becoming playable in a mainline game until late in Street Fighter V's support.







Was this a Rival for Street Fighter EX?

[Asura]

Game 41 - Rival Schools: United by Fate
A largely unintended inclusion, fears that the game would undersell meant that Sakura was added into the games roster and from there on Capcom linked this series into the Street Fighter canon across its media with a playable character from these games not becoming playable in a mainline game until late in Street Fighter V's support.

True about the "mainline game" thing, though the characters showed up in a few places before that; I loved seeing 2D Kyosuke in Capcom vs SNK 2.

I loved Rival Schools and it's fun how it gives a glimpse of stuff that would come later. Conceptually it's much closer to the feel of Street Fighter than the EX titles, despite the different cast and mechanics. I personally got more out of the sequel on Dreamcast, which I played with friends for quite a long time, but they were all good games regardless.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 42 - Project Justice
The second entry into the Rival Schools arm of the games, it switched to players using three fighters instead of two and picks things up a year after the events of the prior game. This saw release on Dreamcast following its arcade debut meaning that despite good reviews it remained a niche title and the games saw an end here.







Was it true Justice that the series ended here?

[Asura]

Played tons of this. Though weirdly don't have a lot to say about it.

[tokyochojin]

Played both of these games a lot at the time and Project Justice a bit in the arcades as well.
I loved the character designs and the setting, the combos are pretty easy to pull off and it's just a really fun game overall.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I liked RS. Played it quite a lot, it seemed fresh and played well.

I've honestly never heard of Project Justice